DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel mentioned Sunday it would shut its embassy in Eire as relations deteriorated over the struggle in Gaza, the place Palestinian medical officers mentioned new Israeli airstrikes killed over 46 folks together with a number of kids.
The choice to shut the embassy got here in response to what Israel’s overseas minister has described as Eire’s “extreme anti-Israel policies.” In Might, Israel recalled its ambassador to Dublin after Eire introduced, together with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, it will acknowledge a Palestinian state.
The Irish Cupboard final week determined to formally intervene in South Africa’s case in opposition to Israel on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies it.
Mostafa Darwish/Anadolu through Getty Pictures
“We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized,” mentioned Eire’s overseas affairs minister, Micheal Martin.
Israeli International Minister Gideon Saar’s assertion on the embassy closure mentioned “Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel.”
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris referred to as the choice to shut the embassy “deeply regrettable.” He added on X: “I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law.”
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill a journalist and youngsters
Israeli forces continued Sunday to pound Gaza, together with the largely remoted north, because the Palestinian dying toll within the struggle approached 45,000.
A big explosion lit up the southern Gaza skyline on Sunday night time. An Israeli airstrike hit a faculty and killed at the very least 16 folks within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, in accordance with Nasser Hospital, the place the our bodies had been taken. There was no fast Israeli army assertion.
Within the north, an airstrike hit the Khalil Aweida college within the city of Beit Hanoun and killed at the very least 15 folks, in accordance with close by Kamal Adwan Hospital the place casualties had been taken. The lifeless included two mother and father and their daughter and a father and his son, the hospital mentioned.
And in Gaza Metropolis, at the very least 17 folks together with six girls and 5 kids had been killed in three airstrikes that hit homes sheltering displaced folks, in accordance with Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
AP Picture/Abdel Kareem Hana
“We woke up to the strike. I woke up with the rubble on top of me,” mentioned a bandaged Yahia al-Yazji, who grieved for his spouse and daughter. “I found my wife with her head and skull visible, and my daughter’s intestines were gone. My wife was three months pregnant.” His hand rested on a physique wrapped in a blanket on the ground.
Israel’s army in an announcement mentioned it struck a “terrorist cell” in Gaza Metropolis and a “terrorist meeting point” within the Beit Hanoun space.
One other Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, Ahmed al-Lawh, in central Gaza, a hospital and the Qatari-based TV station mentioned.
The strike hit some extent for Gaza’s civil protection company within the city Nuseirat refugee camp, Al-Awda Hospital mentioned. Additionally killed had been three civil protection employees together with the native head of the company, in accordance with al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. The civil protection is Gaza’s foremost rescue company and operates underneath the Hamas-run authorities.
One of many our bodies was coated with an orange work jacket marked “ambulance” in English.
“We, the civil defense, are carrying out humanitarian work like in any country in the world. Why are we being targeted?” mentioned colleague Kerem Al Dalou.
Israel’s army mentioned it struck a militant command heart embedded within the civil protection places of work.
The struggle in Gaza started after Hamas and different militants from Gaza stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 folks and taking effectively over 200 hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed virtually 45,000 Palestinians, in accordance with Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry’s rely doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians, nevertheless it says over half of the lifeless have been girls and youngsters.
Most of Gaza’s inhabitants of over 2 million has been displaced, usually a number of instances. The hospitals which might be nonetheless functioning say they lack medicines, gas and different fundamental provides, whereas support teams warn of widespread starvation.
The top of the World Meals Program, Cindy McCain, instructed CBS on Sunday that the U.N. company was in a position to get simply two vehicles of provides into Gaza in November, citing insecurity there.
“We need a ceasefire, and we need it now,” she mentioned. “We can no longer sit by and just allow these people to starve to death.”
Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel. Related Press author Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.
Observe AP’s struggle protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
